Mission StatementThe Lehigh River Stocking Association is a nonprofit, 501C-3 public
organization dedicated to the restoration, revitalization and restocking
of the Lehigh River. Our goal is the continuous improvement of this
waterway and its tributaries. Our objectives are to insure clean water,
a healthy and balanced ecosystem, an abundant fishery and access points
for all citizens to enjoy. This will be to the benefit of all interests;
including the businesses located throughout this region, the sportsmen
and the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This project has
been ongoing for the last 21 years with ever-increasing success.
We need and ask for your support for this outstanding program to continue.

MEETING SCHEDULE
We encourage all sponsors to attend the stated meeting of the LRSA.
Meetings are held the last Tuesday of the month at the Wegmans Cafe in Allentown on Tilghman Street from 7 to 9pm. Thank you.

Email us your fishing photo's. Just attach your photo
in any image format. This page was just updated. Send photos in any picture
file format to:

The gentleman above with the yellow hat (I'm sorry I have forgotten this sponsor's name) came to learn more about fly fishing from the demonstrations.

He has 3 fly rods and said he was ready to trade them in because he cant catch fish with them. However, he had some great methods for spin fishing!

He uses a needle to thread a salmon egg down and seated on a small treble hook. Also, he uses the tab end of where the snell hook attaches to the line to

attach his split shot. In this way, when the split shot inevetably gets stuck on bottom, the shot can slide right off the tab end. Cool tip!

Good News - The PFBC has received 159,000 from NOAA and American Rivers for a study directed toward removal of dams on Lehigh and other area rivers. On the Lehigh this will target Lafarge and Hamilton St dams in Allentown and Easton and Chain dams in Easton.

The LRSA mourns the sad passing of Mark Zovak, a long time supporter of the LRSA and original creator of our web site. Mark loved the Lehigh River and did much to support the recovery of the trout fishery, we will miss him and owe his legacy a huge debt of gratitude.

Texas Holdem was held on Sat March 6, 2010 at Coplay Saengerbund, thanks to the 20 players that came out and to Bob Wescott, Jim Albert and Tom Gyory for organizing the event.. Congratulations to Bill Hall for taking the $250 first prize and for his generation donation of $100 back to LRSA! Congratulations also to Janiel Curtis and Bill Scherr for taking 2nd and third prizes ($150 and $95). The Saengerbund was an excellent host and the food, beverages and services were great. We hope to do a better job advertizing our next Texas Holdem event - watch for announcement in nexty newsletter in May.

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc in Allentown has awarded the LRSA with a $1,500 donation in support of the LRSA water quality program. Many thanks to Air Products.

A $5,000 grant was awarded from Sierra Club for installation of flow datalogging at the Lausanne Tunnel abandoned mine drainage (AMD) in Jim Thrope. Two open channel flow devices will be installed with dataloggers to develop engineering data required to develop engineering plans for treatment of the AMD discharge currently flowing untreated into Nesquehoning Creek (and then the Lehigh).

$10,000 Grant Awarded to LRSA - We are pleased to announce that in June 2008 our grant application to purchase a new water quality probe that will enable streaming water quality data to the Internet was approved. The new probe is already deployed in Jim Thorpe and our conservation team expects that water quality data will be available on line sometime this summer. The new probe features the following water quality measurements: temperature, depth, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, oxidation reduction potential (ORP), Nitrates and self cleaning turbidity. We are pleased to have purchased the state-of-the-art DO probe that uses a luminescence rather than a galvanic technique, this will provide more reliable and accurate DO measurements with less maintenance.

The system was put on line on March 1, 2009 and is available at the
following web site link:

User Name: Lehigh River
Password: LRSA
(note, case sensitive)
Expand the subdirectories by clicking the + until the measurements are
listed. Click on the parameter of interest and the trend will be
charted and data values tabulated. Click on the "properties" tab to
select the time window and/or to add multiple parameters to your charts.
The data can be easily exported to Excel (csv file) by clicking the
export tab or printed directly.

Air Products Donation - In September 2007, a grant of $2,500 was provided to LRSA in support of our water quality program. Specifically it is to be used to support our vision of bringing the water quality data on-line for real time viewing by the public. Thanks to Air Products!! These funds were used to purchase a cellular modem for the project noted above. The unit is on order - stay tuned for results!

Matt MacConnell joined more than 100 other river advocates from around the country for River Action Day in Washington DC on June 18, 2008. Matt had the opportunity to meet with Congressman Dent and Murphy as well as the staffs from Congressman Kanjorsky and Carney. Also met with staff of Senators Specter and Casey. Matt made a point to each of them of the importance of the Lehigh River and Watershed. More information on this trip will be provided separately. Pictured below at left Matt with US Congressman Dent (District 15) on the Capitol steps and at right with Dale Hall, Director of US Fish and Wildlife.

Thanks to Bill Derhammer for excellent service as President and to Todd Woodring for outstanding job as Treasurer. Also, many thanks to Fred Foster for his many years of active participation - he has been involved since the beginning of LRSA and a board member over the last 5 or so years. - tight lines!

Salmon River Fishing trip raffle tickets are being sent out with the June 2008 Newsletter. This is a great fishing experience. Good luck with the raffle!

Sales have been brisk with all proceeds going to support the
fishery. Please purchase your copy and get a tour of the LRSA stocking
locations and hot fishing locations.
The LRSA has produced a video that provides footage of the stocking locations
and river access points. We have included footage of the drive from the
main road to the area, the walk down to the river and a panoramic view
of the fishing area.
Stocking points in all four areas from Northampton Canal Park all the
way to Glen Onoko State Park in the greater Jim Thorpe area. To order
a video please contact Matt at 610-657-2707.

Let Us Know if you think LRSA should run Another Tagging
Contest

Tagging ProgramsThe LRSA has done a number of stocking
programs in the past. We have tagged 100 Steelhead (gray tag) to try and
learn more about their migratory abilities, we have tagged 100 (green
tag) Brown Trout fingerlings to see if we could document holdover, we
conducted a contest with 100 tagged (blue tag) fish where dollar values
were associated with each tag22 of these fish were caught and prizes
given (total of $2,000 in play). All tags used by LRSA over the last few
years have been the plastic spaghetti type that attach just
below the dorsal fin. People catching a tagged trout are directed to report
it to Joe Mazurek at 610-360-2066. The most incredible catch was when
a tagged Tiger (brook-brown) hybrid was caught in the Delaware about 1
month after stocking in the Bowmanstown area. The tag returns are fairly
low percentage (< 30%) however and the data has not been very conclusive.
The contest also did not appear to help with our sponsor sign up rate.
So the board is leaning away from tagging programs at the moment. On the
other hand, if LRSA sponsors would like LRSA to run another contest or
to continue with trying to establish trout travel patterns then please
let us know!
Please contact Matt MacConnell at 610-657-2707 (or other board members)
if you believe we should continue with tagging programs and what type
of program you would like to see.

Matt MacConnell

WALLEYE AND MUSKIES IN THE LEHIGH

The Pa Fish and Boat Commission held a fisheries management
meeting August 31, 2006. The meeting was sponsored by Commissioner
Fred Osifat. Presenters from the PFBC were Dave Arnold and Leroy
Young. The LRSA was represented by Dean Druckenmiller and Bill Derhammer.
Points of discussion were the FEW and how that is being managed
for flood control, white water releases and fisheries management.
The PFBC did ask for input from the LRSA. We reported on our stocking
program, how long we have stocked trout, number of fish and how
our tagging program has worked. We also reported on the ability
of the trout to find thermal refuges during periods of low water
and higher temperatures. We know that our fall brown fingerling
program is working. The LRSA requested that the PFBC stop stocking
walleye and muskies north of Northampton. The PFBC plans to continue
to stock walleye from Sandy Run downstream to the confluence of
the Delaware until 2009 in order to get measurable results. The
PFBC wants to provide more fishing opportunities in the Lehigh with
more species of fish. The LRSA suggested that rather than stock
walleyes and muskies let the smallmouth bass that are becoming abundant
continue to re-populate the Lehigh. We also asked that the PFBC
stock fingerling trout from Sandy Run down to Palmerton. The section
from FEW to Sandy Run is being stocked by the PFBC. The PFBC did
listen to our concerns. Lets hope they will take our concerns
to heart and manage the Lehigh for what it could become, the premier
fishing destination in the East. We know the potential of our lovely
Lehigh.

Stocking StrategyYour Comments and Suggestions Welcomed

The LRSA board works hard to spread the trout we stock in a fair
and equitable way. Thanks to the volunteers who show up at the stocking
locations, we have enough manpower to spread them out in each area
pretty well.
Here is an example of how we spread the fish on one stocking day
this spring in Area 3. A total of 17 tubs of trout (approx 14 fish
per tub) were spread out in Lehighton from below Dunbars to
several locations below the Packerton dip access point. A total
of 10 tubs were spread out in Jim Thorpe along the parking area
above the train station up to the 933 bridge. Finally, 2 tubs were
put in at Glen Onoko followed by 4 tubs about 1/2 mile up into the
Gorge.
We would like to please all the people but as you can imagine it
is difficult. The board believes it is important to get the fish
in at areas that have good access to our sponsors. It remains a
mystery how far the fish move after being stocked, whether Rainbows
travel more than Brownies or the other way around. There are a lot
of theories on this but our tagging programs were largely inconclusive
on this question.
The board sincerely appreciates your sponsorship because this enables
more fish for the river and more happy anglers all season long.
Still we would like to hear from you and if you have comments or
suggestions, please contact Matt MacConnell at 610-657-2707 or any
other board member (names and numbers at the end of the newsletter).

Matt MacConnell, LRSA

LRSA's, Datasonde 3 Hydroprobes at Northampton. We now have
probes in the river 24/7 monitoring pH, Dissolved Oxygen, conductivity,
turbidity, and level. Matt MacConnell removes the probe on right for
data download. The clean probe on left will take it's place for a
week of water quality monitoring. See more on our Watershed
Information page.